This post begins with John Oliver analyzing the NRA's fearmongering style that I have categorized as terrorism (but it could just be Nazi-like tyrants with an agenda). Then there are a bunch of extracts from media matters which paint the picture of a network of conspiracy (non-fact) based "news" channels all working together to help Trump and the GOP with thier lies & thus, as per thier Oaths of Office, treason. These channels includes all of right wing media from Fox news, to NRAtv, to Infowars and local news programming done by yet another upcomming Republican dictator.

The nefarious relationship between the Trump-era Federal Communications Commission (FCC), conservative local TV news giant Sinclair Broadcast Group, and the Trump administration itself is now under investigation.

On February 15, The New York Timesreported that the FCC inspector general has opened an internal investigation into potential improper conduct by Trump-appointed FCC chair Ajit Pai and his aides in advocating for deregulatory rules that specifically benefited Sinclair.

The internal investigation could also tackle a series of recent FCC actions that have directly allowed Sinclair greater room to expand:

In April, the FCC reinstated an outdated media ownership rule known as the UHF discount, making room for a new level of local media consolidation at the hands of big media groups like Sinclair.

Weeks later, Sinclair announced it was proposing to acquire Tribune Media, a huge local news merger that wouldn’t have been allowed without the UHF discount in place. The FCC and Trump’s Department of Justice are now the only agencies that need to approve the deal.

In October, the FCC voted to eliminate a rule that required local news stations to maintain offices within the communities they serve, making it easier for Sinclair to consolidate and centralize local news resources as it buys up more stations.

In November, the FCC rolled back rules that limit broadcast station ownership, allowing for Sinclair to more easily own or operate multiple stations -- or merge stations -- in the same local media markets.

Sinclair’s unprecedented gains under Pai’s purview are not just significant in terms of media consolidation; they’re ideologically dangerous. The company is known for requiring its local news stations across the country to air almost-daily segments that function as Trump propaganda. Its pending acquisition of Tribune would allow these segments to quietly spread further into major cities and battleground states ahead of the 2020 presidential race.

Conservative TV news giant Sinclair Broadcast Group wants its local viewers to be constantly petrified of an impending terror attack by Muslim immigrants and refugees.

That’s the conclusion I’ve reached after watching all of Sinclair’s “Terrorism Alert Desk” segments from 2017 -- segments the company produces in its national offices and forces its local stations across the country to air almost every day.

Sinclair is now well-known for its history of abusing public trust to air right-wing spin on local news shows, and is currently awaiting federal approval to finalize a massive acquisition that will help it spread its conservative propaganda further across the country. It launched the Terrorism Alert Desk segments in November 2015. Last July, HBO’s John Oliver described them as “beneath the journalistic standards” of even Breitbart, noting that one segment that focused on a ban on burkinis in some French towns wasn’t even “about terrorism … just about Muslims” and mentioning a particularly shocking story that his research term could not verify.

Fixating on terror attacks in Europe perpetrated by immigrants or refugees (or people they can imply are somehow “foreign,” e.g. brown)

A typical story shared by the Terrorism Alert Desk -- without any context -- goes something like this:

LINDSEY MASTIS (ANCHOR): Two men suspected of fighting for an Al-Qaeda-linked group in Syria were arrested in the Netherlands today. The men traveled to the Netherlands as refugees in 2015.

In the above instance, that’s all the information viewers were offered about the case. The two sentences about the arrest do not include the name of the terror group or explain how the men were apprehended, nor do they offer what evidence law enforcement may or may not have for arresting them or provide any other details about the case. This small snapshot does, however, contain all the buzzwords necessary to stoke fear that refugees and immigrants continually commit terror attacks in European countries that welcome them -- a common xenophobic trope in far-right circles. (One Terrorism Alert Desk anchor, reporter Jonathan Elias, has also authored some online articles for Sinclair that rely on these far-right talking points about refugees perpetrating violence in Europe.)

Giving ISIS free publicity

Terrorism Alert Desk segments also frequently reported on violent incidents as though they were confirmed as having been perpetrated by ISIS members. Sinclair is seemingly unaware that the terror group tends to claim responsibility for attacks it did not directly plan or materially support. Segments often included a line about ISIS claiming responsibility but failed to provide any further context about what that means (or doesn’t mean). Others implied ISIS connections in vague terms or misled viewers by grouping confirmed ISIS-perpetrated attacks with other violent incidents with shakier or no confirmed ISIS connections.

Here are just a few reports from the “OK, so why report this at all” hall of fame:

“ISIS is still trying to claim responsibility for the mass shooting in Las Vegas” but “federal investigators do not believe ISIS was involved.” [10/6/17]

“There have been significant terrorist attacks since the start of Ramadan on May 26, and ISIS has called on its followers to commit attacks during this holy month,” but “officials say there is no evidence of a specific threat to the U.S.” [6/5/17]

“We continue to follow the developing story in Barcelona. Car- and truck-ramming is a hallmark of the terror group ISIS and that organization repeatedly calls for attacks like this in its propaganda magazines.” (The segment did not mention any specific evidence the attack was actually connected to ISIS.) [8/17/17]

Breathlessly recapping police arrests where suspects were released without charge

Some Terrorism Alert Desk segments include updates on random arrests of individuals suspected to be engaging in some sort of terrorism-related activity -- whether the arrests mean anything significant or not. A few examples:

A total of 12 people arrested after a car attack in London were released without charge. [4/4/17]

In England, a man “suspected of terrorism” was released from police custody, where he was held “after a different man with a sword was arrested outside Buckingham Palace.” [8/31/17]

German police released six Syrian men they had suspected of planning an attack in Berlin because they did not have “sufficient evidence … but the investigation is ongoing.” (A CNN report about the same incident also noted the police said there was “no concrete evidence” the men were connected to ISIS.) [11/22/17]

Hyping preventative security measures

The Terrorism Alert Desk is also preoccupied by preventive security measures that American and various European governments have taken. Together they paint a portrait for viewers of a world bracing itself for an impending terrorism apocalypse. In 2017, the desk featured (sometimes multiple) stories about:

the Australian government's plans to construct concrete barricades in Sydney in case of vehicle attacks [6/23/17];

a U.K. police “mock terrorism drill” that found terrorists could enter the Palace of Westminster in less than five minutes [8/28/17];

the French air force training eagles to take down drones [2/22/17]; and

terror “threat levels” fluctuating (or not) in different countries, reminders that the chances of a terror attack were high “anytime, anywhere,” and tweaks to terror threat measurements. [3/23/17, 9/16/17, 11/28/17, 5/24/17]

Focusing almost exclusively on terrorism associated with Islam

Terrorism Alert Desk segments in 2017 were overwhelmingly focused on terror attacks linked (credibly or not) to ISIS, Al-Qaeda, Taliban, and Boko Haram -- four terror groups that all espouse violent, extremist views purportedly as a form of Islam. Sinclair’s online “tracking terror” feature similarly focuses heavily on incidents associated with these groups.(It also includes a handful of attacks associated with other groups like Ansar al-Sharia, the Al-Qaeda-affiliated group Al-Shabaab, Hamas, and the Kurdistan Freedom Hawks, as well as some incidents with no specific terror group affiliations.)

Meanwhile, the Terrorism Alert Desk systematically ignored instances of violent white nationalism and far-right extremist incidents in 2017. I found just one example of the Terrorism Alert Desk addressing a violent white nationalist group throughout the entire year: a segment discussing the arrest of four members of the British army for being members of the neo-Nazi group National Action.

Scraping the bottom of the barrel for any stories even vaguely related to terrorism

Sometimes, the Terrorism Alert Desk fills up time with stories like these:

Someone spray-painted the word “ISIS” in a New York City subway station, and now the police are investigating it. [1/25/17]

One year later, the FBI is still investigating a homemade explosive device found in Central Park in New York City. The kicker: “Federal authorities don’t believe it was a terrorist act, but similar devices have been used in terror attacks.” [6/29/17]

Someone saw an ISIS flag in New Hampshire and the “police are looking into who put it there.” [6/16/17]

A Norwegian study found survivors of a terror attack were more likely to experience migraines. [12/15/17]

And, of course, repetition

A new Terrorism Alert Desk segment aired on average once every other day in 2017. A Media Matters search of the media database iQ media found 202 unique segments that ran on at least one of two select Sinclair stations during the year. On at least one of those stations -- Sinclair’s flagship WBFF in Baltimore -- segments sometimes aired multiple times.

In 2017, anyone who watched the Sinclair newscast every evening during the slot in which Terrorism Alert Desk airs would have consumed a total of more than three hours of alarmist bullshit. The segments even begin with newsy music and a bright red screen with the words “Terrorism Alert Desk” splashed across it in capital letters. The title “Terrorism Alert Desk” itself is also mentioned multiple times in each one-minute segment.

A single shoddy bit of reporting may not chip away at the public’s understanding of facts and truth -- but a year of these segments creates an entire avalanche of misinformation meant to induce panic. The collective psychological result is undoubtedly truly damaging.

Read full article here.NRA, Breibart & Infowars are like three peas in a pod...

Media Matters: A guide to NRATV: NRA's news outlet is a hybrid of Breitbart and InfowarsLaunched in late 2016, NRATV serves as the news outlet for the National Rifle Association, regularly defending President Donald Trump, slamming mainstream media outlets as “dishonest rags,” and viciously criticizing any politician or activist who speaks out against the president and his policies. While some of the outlet’s coverage focuses on gun policy, the newest developments in firearms technology, and tactical shooting, the programming has largely become a platform for far-right conservative talking points that are often unrelated to gun policy. As NRATV strayed away from gun coverage, it sparked a number of controversies and drew widespread criticism during its inaugural year. After the February 2018 school shooting in Parkland, FL, there were numerous calls for companies to end their business relationship with NRATV.

Launched in October 2016, NRATV is a rebrand of the National Rifle Association’s long-running news outlet NRA News -- which began airing in 2004 -- with the aim of offering more live programming. NRATV broadcasts via online streaming at NRATV.com and satellite radio. Like with NRA News, the outlet’s operations are supported by the gun group’s advertising firm, Ackerman McQueen. While ostensibly a news outlet with a heavy focus on gun issues, NRATV has proven itself to be a platform for attacks on press freedoms and freedom of assembly, pro-Trump propaganda defending anything the president does, sometimes with blatant falsehoods, and xenophobic commentary, particularly on the topic of Islam.

Since Donald Trump won the Republican primary race in 2016, NRATV has been strident in its defense of the president. For example, in one of the first NRATV episodes, host Grant Stinchfield attacked the media for covering numerous reports of sexual assault against Trump, saying outlets should instead cover instances where guns are used in self-defense. After Trump won the presidential election in November 2016, NRATV released a video in which NRA executive vice president Wayne LaPierre called his organization Trump’s “strongest ally.” Meanwhile, the executive director of NRA’s lobbying wing -- the Institute for Legislative Action -- has frequently appeared on various NRATV programs to exclaim that “NRA members all across this country … helped deliver one of the most historic, come-from-behind wins in American history, and that was the election of President Trump.”

While the NRA has long claimed that the news media are part of a conspiracy to disarm everyday Americans, the group’s recent attacks against the press in defense of Trump have entered new territory. The gun outlet has labeled both dissent against Trump and protected-speech reporting about the president and his administration contrary to the U.S. Constitution and American values, including claiming that the press who question Trump’s conduct are “anti-American.”

NRATV is available on several streaming devices including Apple TV, Roku, and Amazon Fire. These companies have faced boycotts and calls to drop NRATV following the February 14 school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL, that left 17 dead.

This guide was originally published on August 28, 2017, and has been updated with additional material.

NRATV’s Loesch appeared in an inflammatory ad targeting the resistance movement against President Trump. In an NRA video, spokesperson Loesch characterized dissent against Trump as the “violence of lies” and said it should be countered with “the clenched fist of truth.” The video claimed that in their opposition to Trump, left-wing Americans “scream racism, and sexism, and xenophobia, and homophobia [and] smash windows, burn cars, shut down interstates and airports, bully and terrorize the law-abiding until the only option left is for the police to do their jobs and stop the madness.” She went on to say the only way to “save our country and our freedom” is with “the clenched fist of truth.” The ad conflated isolated incidents of property damage during anti-Trump protests with the resistance movement at large, giving viewers the false impression that protests against Trump are often violent. [NRATV, 4/7/17]

NRATV’s “clenched fist of truth” video was reposted to Facebook in June 2017, igniting widespread condemnation. On June 28, 2017, the NRATV video was reposted to the group’s Facebook page, where it generated waves of criticism, with critics saying that it was an incitement to violence against protesters who oppose Trump. NRATV promoted the video on Facebook as “Loesch tak[ing] on the left’s violence of lies.” [Facebook, 6/28/17; The Washington Post,6/29/17; The New York Times, 6/29/17]

NRATV released a follow-up video that smeared critics. During a four-minute follow-up video posted on July 1, 2017, Stinchfield told those “having a meltdown” over Loesch’s initial video to “get over yourself.” Among several activists he singled out, Stinchfield claimed that anti-police-brutality activist DeRay McKesson, who had criticized the original NRA spot, is a “professional rioter” who has organized riots that injured police officers. Stinchfield closed by insisting an apology from the NRA will “never happen” and saying that “we stand firm with the clenched fist of truth.” [NRATV, 7/1/17]

NRATV released a third video claiming opponents of Trump are an “organized anarchy.” The NRA released a third video on the topic, featuring NRATV commentator Dom Raso, who conflated isolated incidents of violence with the entire resistance movement. For example, the video sought to connect property damage on Inauguration Day with remarks made by Rep. John Lewis. Raso slammed resistance protesters by playing footage of concentration camps from a Holocaust documentary to show what “fascism is.” [NRATV, 7/9/17]

NRATV MAKES EXTREME ATTACKS ON FREEDOM OF THE PRESS, OFTEN IN DEFENSE OF TRUMP

Stinchfield took a sledgehammer to a TV playing cable news to defend Trump. In a February 12, 2018, NRA ad, Stinchfield used a sledgehammer to smash a television that was playing clips from MSNBC, CNN and other outlets that criticized the NRA or Trump. [NRATV, 2/12/18]

Loesch held a lighter to a copy of The New York Times in NRATV ad. In a February 7, 2018, NRATV ad, Loesch held a lighter to a copy of The New York Times before saying, “I don’t even have to do this” because the Times is “burning down” its reputation by itself. [Media Matters, 2/7/18]

NRA ad featuring Loesch warned that Trump opponents "will perish in the political flames of their own fires." In an October 10, 2017, NRA ad, Loesch accused the government and the media of “driv[ing] their daggers through the hearts of our future” in order to “build their utopia.” Loesch went on to promise that opponents of Trump will fail in attempting to destroy the country and will then “perish in the political flames of their own fires”:

DANA LOESCH: We are witnesses to the most ruthless attack on a president, and the people who voted for him, and the free system that allowed it to happen in American history. From the highest levels of government to their media, universities and billionaires, their hateful defiance of his legitimacy is an insult to each of us. But the ultimate insult is that they think we’re so stupid that we’ll let them get away with it. These saboteurs, slashing away with their leaks and sneers, their phony accusations and gagging sanctimony, drive their daggers through the heart of our future, poisoning our belief that honest custody of our institutions will ever again be possible. So they can then build their utopia from the ashes of what they burned down. No, their fate will be failure and they will perish in the political flames of their own fires. We are the National Rifle Association of America. And we are Freedom's Safest Place. [Media Matters, 10/20/17]

Stinchfield: Reporting on sexual assault allegations against Trump is part of “the mainstream media’s assault against freedom and the Constitution.” Weeks before the 2016 presidential election, as allegations of sexual assault and harassment against Trump mounted, Stinchfield claimed that then-Fox News host Megyn Kelly’s questions to a Trump surrogate about the reports were oppositional to the U.S. Constitution and “a diversion from the important topics we need to be talking about, like save the Second Amendment”:

GRANT STINCHFIELD (HOST): The mainstream media’s assault against freedom and the Constitution has played out every night on the airwaves of America. The overwhelmingly biased attacks against Donald Trump are usually cloaked as real news, when in reality it’s a diversion from the important topics we need to be talking about, like save the Second Amendment. Megyn Kelly performed this sleight-of-hand magic trick last night while she was interviewing former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich. She only wanted to talk about the sexual allegations leveled against Donald Trump, but the speaker fought back. [NRATV, Stinchfield, 10/26/16]

Stinchfield: Critical reporting on the Trump transition was “anti-patriotic” and part of a plot to “destroy our republic.” Following Trump’s victory in the presidential election, Stinchfield called on the media to “get on board,” suggesting that reporting on Trump and his transition team was “anti-patriotic” and alleging a plot by media to “destroy our republic”:

GRANT STINCHFIELD (HOST): [Trump] is not a loser. Hillary Clinton was the loser. The media needs to get on board. They talk about being anti-patriotic -- when you call into question every single thing that this president-elect does and his transition does, it’s the media that is trying to destroy our republic. They are trying to tear it down piece by piece by sending you false information. It started two years and longer before election night, and it continues to this day. [NRATV, Stinchfield, 11/29/16]

NRATV accused NYTimes of “aiding terrorists” by correcting false Trump surrogate claim. After Trump aide Kellyanne Conway was widely criticized in media for inventing a terrorist attack that never happened -- the “Bowling Green Massacre” -- NRATV claimed The New York Times was “aiding terrorists” by reporting on the story:

NRATV to NY Times: “We're coming for you.” In February 2017, the NRA released a video about The New York Times that alleged the paper had failed to cover major stories such as the tea party movement, Mexican drug cartel violence, and the 2012 attack on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi, Libya. A spokesperson for the Times responded that the paper had actually covered all the stories mentioned in the ad. In response, NRATV issued a video in which Loesch said, “Consider this the shot across your proverbial bow. We are going to fisk the The New York Times and find out just what ‘deep and rich’ means to this old gray hag, this untrustworthy, dishonest rag that has subsisted on the welfare of mediocrity for one, two, three, more decades. We're going to laser-focus on your so-called ‘honest pursuit of truth.’ In short, we're coming for you.” [NRATV, 4/10/17]

NRATV to Wash. Post: “You people do more damage to our country with a keyboard than every NRA member combined has ever done with a firearm.” After a Washington Post article used the word “dark” to describe a video released by the NRATV claiming there is “organized anarchy” on the left, NRATV responded by attacking the paper, claiming the outlet has a “role in the organized anarchy of the violent left by spreading lies about those who disagree with their radical agenda” and implying its First Amendment rights should be taken away:NRATV'S DECEITFUL PRO-TRUMP PROPAGANDA

Stinchfield speculated without evidence that the Las Vegas shooting was motivated by a desire to attack Trump supporters. Following the October 1, 2017, mass shooting in Las Vegas, NV, Stinchfield baselessly speculated the gunman wanted to shoot Trump supporters because “it was a country music concert.” NRATV host Dan Bongino agreed, asking, “What alternate explanation at this point makes sense?” Law enforcement investigators have been unable to establish the motive for the shooting. From the October 16 edition of NRATV’s Stinchfield.

DAN BONGINO: This was a very sophisticated attack in a sick, deranged way. He had really done his homework.

GRANT STINCHFIELD (HOST): You know, Dan, and I don’t think you can overlook the fact that it was a country music concert, you’ve going to have a lot of pro-America, pro-freedom, quite frankly Trump supporters there. And then the targeting of police officers. So, yes, tactically it makes sense to target the police officers from the shooter’s perspective, but also you’ve got to look into the possibility there was motivation that he was simply going after police officers with the environment that we live in as well.

On Election Day, NRATV host read an article clearly labeled “fiction” to urge listeners to vote against Hillary Clinton. During NRATV’s November 8 broadcast, Stinchfield cited an article from an NRA magazine labeled a “work of fiction” that predicted over-the-top calamities if Clinton was elected. Treating the article as if it were serious, Stinchfield said, “America’s 1st Freedom published an eye-opening piece about what the country would look like in 2020 if Hillary Clinton is elected president today. One of those projections is that she would appoint [former New York City Mayor] Michael Bloomberg as ambassador to the United Nations. There he would help push through an international arms treaty that would severely limit our ability to purchase guns here in the United States, taking away our sovereignty as a nation and putting our rights under international control. That alone should be enough motivation to head to the polls right now.” [NRATV, 11/8/16; Media Matters, 11/7/16]

NRATV fabricated quotes from Comey’s appearance before the Senate in an attempt to protect Trump. While Comey was testifying before Congress, Stinchfield claimed on NRATV that Comey was asked, “Did [Trump] ever try to obstruct justice in any way?” and that Comey responded, “No.” Stinchfield characterized his telling of the exchange as a “direct quote.” In fact, a transcript of the hearing indicates that when Comey was asked whether he had a “sense” that Trump obstructed justice in actions related to former national security adviser Michael Flynn, Comey answered, “I don't think it's for me to say whether the conversation I had with the president was an effort to obstruct. I took it as a very disturbing thing, very concerning, but that's a conclusion I'm sure the special counsel will work towards to try and understand what the intention was there and whether that's an offense.” [Media Matters, 6/8/17]

NRATV blamed Trump’s Russia troubles on “Obama loyalists” who are “trying to destroy America from the inside.” Following reporting in February 2017 indicating that U.S. intelligence agencies intercepted communications between Trump campaign officials and “senior Russian intelligence officials,” Stinchfield blamed the controversy on “Obama loyalists”:

GRANT STINCHFIELD (HOST): You know, there’s a big issue in Washington now, all this discussion over what's been going on with Russia, the Trump administration, Michael Flynn, the national security adviser, who is now out. You've made a career of being able to communicate with people, many times being able to communicate with criminals. I believe what is going on in Washington is you have a concerted effort with Obama loyalists inside these bureaucratic agencies, from the Justice Department to the intelligence community, trying to undermine the president every step of the way. Is there anything Congress can do to root out those loyalists who are really, I believe, trying to destroy America from the inside? [NRATV, Stinchfield, 2/15/17]

NRATV made the false claim that there is a murder every 11 minutes in Chicago to push for the confirmation of Trump attorney general nominee Jeff Sessions. During his January 9, 2017, broadcast, Stinchfield claimed there is a murder every 11 minutes in Chicago -- which would amount to nearly 50,000 murders per year -- to suggest Sessions would reduce violence in the city. Stinchfield claimed this level of violence is “why the NRA’s executive director for the Institute for Legislative Action is calling for the swift confirmation of attorney general nominee Jeff Sessions” and that “lives depend on [his] appointment.” [NRATV, Stinchfield, 1/9/17]

NRATV falsely claimed Sessions “busted” a group engaged in voter fraud to defend his record as a prosecutor. During the January 10, 2017, NRATV broadcast, Loesch shared a false account of a 1985 voter fraud investigation Sessions spearheaded, claiming he “busted” people committing fraud. In fact, the case brought by Sessions, which targeted an African-American civic group, was so weak that the judge threw out some of the charges and the jury acquitted the defendants on the rest. [Media Matters, 1/10/17]

NRATV smeared anti-Trump protesters as violent by playing video footage of an unrelated event from a different day. During an NRATV segment purportedly about the Women’s March and the group’s plans to protest the NRA, Stinchfield ran video of Antifa members causing property damage in Washington, D.C., on Inauguration Day. The Women’s March was actually the next day, and no arrests were reported. [Media Matters, 7/7/17; DCist, 1/22/17]

ALEX JONES (HOST): Tucker Carlson is the slickest -- in a good way -- smartest person on television right now. Sean Hannity is the most dogged and has the most courage. But Lou Dobbs, in his massive knowledge of politics, of business, of everything, really is the master. And that's all on Fox. Fox tried to be anti-Trump until about six months ago, they lost about half their viewers, it almost killed them, and that attempt failed and now the floodgates are open again to tell the truth. Doesn't mean they're perfect.

But think about where we'd be if it wasn't for Fox News. And the only reason I say that is, the globalists are constantly, in their public white papers, scheming how to bring down Fox and how to pressure [Rupert] Murdoch to do it. But Murdoch has hedged his bets, and he's now burrowed in with Trump, talking to him every day, I'm told. And really knows how to be a sycophant, trying to lick his rear end. I'm sorry to use a gross term like that, but I want this to get to the president, so I just said it. That Murdoch is trying to not just brownnose, but kiss the rose of Venus shame.

[...]

See, this isn't like your regular radio show. You're just inside my head right now. And I was about to cover all these big subjects and I was just thinking how thankful I was to Tucker Carlson that he's so smart. It's good to have other brains out there like that. I'm exhausted a lot of the time, and I'm very thankful that others -- Michael Savage, and Rush Limbaugh, and Sean Hannity, and Tucker Carlson, and out there -- thank God. They're not perfect, I'm not perfect either, but they're not out to get you. And then we wouldn't be here without Matt Drudge. Fox would have buckled, and all this would have buckled if Drudge wasn't there. Drudge is the cornerstone, the linchpin, the secret sauce.

When the man with unparalleled access to the most advanced intelligence operation in the world prefers to get his information from Fox News, we're all in serious trouble.Fox news has been the mouthpiece of the GOP for a long time, conning the American people. They are a major News channel. Fox News exists because the other media outlets let it exist as both types of media operate within thier own echo chamber. If you blame Trump for listening to Fox you also have to blame mainstream media for not fighting a mainstream news channel lying to the American people as a treasonous Nazi outfit operating on American soil... which is exactly what they are. Bet this is what happened in Germany during the 1930s. Liberals woudln't confront the Nazis are thier bullying scared them so the Nazis took over.The sinister pro-Trump propaganda of Lou Dobbs Tune in to Lou Dobbs Tonight for creepy adulation of Donald Trump and routine calls to imprison the president’s opponents

The running theme of Lou Dobbs Tonight is easy to suss out: Trump is single-handedly restoring American glory despite the subversive opposition of his many internal enemies. The president’s adversaries include Hillary Clinton, Democrats, Republican congressional leaders, the “deep state,” the left-wing media, and countless other supposed malefactors. For Dobbs, one critical word aimed at the president is enough to make you a “subversive” and an enemy of the American people.

There are a wealth of examples one could choose from to illustrate this dynamic, but Dobbs’ reaction to Trump’s reported denigration of Haiti and “shithole” African nations offers an apt data point. Dobbs kicked off his January 12 show with a defense of the president’s “colorful language” and a swipe at “duplicitous Dems” who were “claiming offense.” Without actually describing what the president is supposed to have said, Dobbs explained Trump’s “fundamental point” in insulting poorer nations and their citizens: something about the misuse of international aid.

“What has happened to all of the aid that the U.S. government has sent to Haiti over the past quarter century?” Dobbs demanded. “Why should any president, but particularly this one, have to put up with the self-serving ignorance of the Dems and the left who call Mr. Trump a racist because he questioned why all that aid hasn't been enough to diminish if not eliminate horribly persistent poverty?”

No reporting anywhere has linked Trump’s remarks to international aid or poverty alleviation. Not even the White House has tried floating that defense. Dobbs just conjured it up on his own and presented it as an obvious truth that the president, in his serene majesty, stated plainly only to be viciously and unjustly attacked. “President Trump shouldn’t put up with that disrespect, that ignorance, in my opinion,” Dobbs added.

Bryan Dean Wright, a consultant looking for career opportunities and freelance gigs, has found the perfect publicity gimmick to get in outlets such as Fox News: proclaiming he's "a Democrat but" agreeing with Republican positions.

Wright is a former CIA officer whose personal website states that he’s available as a consultant to “businesses, philanthropic groups, and governmental bodies,” as well as for speaking engagements and media work.

Wright’s website highlights his TV and print commentary. But his avenue to getting media attention has frequently been as a Democratic validator for President Donald Trump and his Republican Party.

should be wary of joining NFL protests and need to know that “Trump is right to say that sports stars like Kaepernick aren’t helping the nation’s racial divide when they take a knee in protest of America’s cops”;

Unsurprisingly, Fox News -- which has frequently hosted Fox News “Democrats” like Pat Caddell and Doug Schoen -- has been enamored with Wright’s work. Here are some headlines of Wright’s pieces since Trump was elected president:

CHUCK HOLTON (NRATV CORRESPONDENT): I don’t really understand how these progressives or these liberals can call the NRA ISIS in America, and act as if that’s a bad thing when they take so much common cause with ISIS. I mean, if you think about it, they have so much in common. The liberals in America and ISIS -- they both hate America, they both say it’s a terrible place, they both are for open borders and –-

STINCHFIELD: I will not compare liberals in this country to ISIS. I will not do it. ISIS literally wants to march people out into the beach --

HOLTON: I’m not comparing them, but I just wonder if it would be –

[CROSSTALK]

STINCHFIELD: They literally want to march people out on the beach and lop our freaking heads off. And now I know there are liberals that hate America --

HOLTON: That's right, that's right.

STINCHFIELD: But they are not – I’m not comparing them to ISIS, I’m not going the same route that they just did to us. It’s not true. They want to harm America? Yes, in the big scheme of things absolutely.

TUCKER CARLSON (HOST): In a new advertisement, the National Rifle Association (NRA) warns left wing journalists that, quote, "time is running out" for them.

[...]

So, you are being criticized for inciting violence, some say, by that phrase "time is up." What does that mean?

DANA LOESCH: Well, "Time's up," of course, is a play on the "Time's up" movement, the Hollywood progressivisim that for so long tolerated and celebrated people like Roman Polanski and Woody Allen, and Harvey Weinstein.

Far-right activists and trolls have seized on proposals to expropriate land from South Africa’s white minority (including Dutch-descended “Afrikaners” and other people of European descent) to advance a myth of so-called white genocide. Meanwhile, they are conspicuously ignoring South Africa’s uniquely disturbing history of institutionalized racism and white supremacy.

Fox News runs with right wing’s out-of-context video attacking Chuck SchumerFull video debunks accusation of racism against Schumer
Fox News used out-of-context video of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to claim he was opposing a judicial nominee from President Donald Trump because the nominee is white. In fact, the full video of Schumer’s criticism showed his objection to the nomination of Marvin Quattlebaum to the U.S. District Court in South Carolina came in response to Republicans’ refusal to observe Senate tradition and their failure to support President Barack Obama’s nominees for the vacant seat.

These smears likely originated with Carlson’s former website, The Daily Caller, which during the early afternoon of March 1 posted the partial video clip with the headline: “Schumer Will Vote ‘No’ On Judicial Nominee Because He Is White.” Ben Shapiro’s Daily Wire also joined in the smear, citing The Daily Caller and amping up the accusation in its headline: “RACISM IN ACTION: Schumer: I Won't Vote For This Judge Because He's White.”

But as ThinkProgress justice editor Ian Millhiser pointed out, these smears are built around selectively edited video. Both right-wing websites and all three Fox News shows omitted the first half of Schumer’s remarks, in which he berated Republican senators for hypocritically abandoning a Senate tradition for judicial nominees known as “blue slips” now that they are in power, which would have served as an effective check on Trump's judicial nominations. Schumer noted that Democrats had honored the practice previously with respect to this very seat, which is why Trump had a chance to nominate someone to fill it. Millhiser also noted that Schumer’s voting record further debunks the accusation of racism: He voted for 10 out of 11 of Trump’s previous federal district court nominees, and those 10 were all white. On the March 2 edition of CNN's Wolf, Schumer explained how "right-wing radio who never really tells the truth distort[ed] what I had said."

The full video of Schumer’s explanation for voting against Quattlebaum, which wasn’t played on Fox News, can be viewed below:

National Rifle Association (NRA) spokeswoman Dana Loesch on ABC’sThis Week falsely claimed that, the NRA “created” the current gun background check system and whitewashed the NRA's role inhibiting the national background check system.

Discussing the Parkland, FL, shooting with ABC host George Stephanopolous, Loesch recycled the NRA lie that the organization “created” the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). In reality, the NRA fiercelyopposed the 1993 Brady background check bill, which created NICS, and continued to lobby against it after its passage. Loesch also misled about Printz v. United States, an NRA-supported lawsuit that strongly inhibited NICS after the Supreme Court ruled for the NRA’s position. From the February 25 edition of ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos:

On Monday, NRA spokesperson Dana Loesch pushed a fabricated story that a missing CDC doctor had said the flu shot was directly linked to flu-related deaths this year. While discussing the disappearance of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) employee Dr. Timothy Cunningham on her radio program, Loesch claimed that Cunningham had blamed “this year's flu shot” for “the deadly outbreak.” Loesch added that Cunningham had said “that if his name was attached to the widely circulated quotes, he'd lose his job or even suffer a worse fate.”

To understand how things became this bad and why it is so hard to fix, you have to understand the role of the media in keeping the people unaware of the GOP actions through silence, help and avoiding negative stories during election times so the GOP can win (for example; if the media went after a politicians such as Lindsey Graham or John McCain everytime they ran for an election for thier Iraq war lies - as is normal in politics, i.e. going after bad decisions made in the past to show incompetency - then many GOP senators and congressmen would have lost a long time ago. Even if Iraq wasn't a colored country and its people weren't part of the WW2 Jews of America, there is still over 4000+ AMERICAN soldiers that died for thier lies for which they have never been held accountable. Their leaders did make money. Dividing the money made by the number of soldiers deaths we can figure out how much each soldiers life was worth to the GOP, for which they paid nothing of course. GOP use America like thier personal piggy bank and are so used to it I don't think they have it in them to change, i.e. they are in too deep)

Quotes

"Make peace with the universe. Take joy in it. It will turn to gold. Resurrection will be now. Every moment, a new beauty." - Rumi

"God is a metaphor for that which transcends all levels of intellectual thought. It's as simple as that." - Joseph Campbell

"Naturally, every age thinks that all ages before it were prejudiced, and today we think this more than ever and are just as wrong as all previous ages that thought so. How often have we not seen the truth condemned! It is sad but unfortunately true that man learns nothing from history." - Carl Jung

"Of all the animosities which have existed among mankind, those which are caused by difference of sentiments in religion appear to be the most inveterate and distressing, and ought most to be deprecated. I was in hopes that the enlightened and liberal policy, which has marked the present age, would at least have reconciled Christians of every denomination so far that we should never again see the religious disputes carried to such a pitch as to endanger the peace of society." - George Washington

“If a problem is fixable, if a situation is such that you can do something about it, then there is no need to worry. If it's not fixable, then there is no help in worrying. There is no benefit in worrying whatsoever.” - Dalai Lama

“Be empty of worrying. Think of who created thought! Why do you stay in prison. When the door is so wide open?” ― Rumi